Shooting for the Love of the Game

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Walking through the empty halls of Preston High School, you can hear it before you see it — the pulsing beat of bouncing basketballs resonates like a steady rainfall, the heavy rubber drops rhythmic and relentless.

The sound is coming from inside the school’s gym, where more than 30 hoopsters-in-training are warming up before an intensive three-hour shooting clinic.

A man with perfect posture and a voice that carries across the gym steps to centre court and calls the kids to join him. His name is Dave Love and he began the Love of the Game shooting clinic in 2001 to satisfy his desire to coach and promote the sport of basketball across the country.

“You are not going to become a better shooter here today,” Love says. “What you will become is a significantly better shooting coach. And when you leave here today, you will be your own first client.”

Love’s philosophy is to have players learn the mechanics of shooting a basketball at a young age and practice, practice, practice until it becomes ingrained in their muscle memory.

“Late in the fourth quarter you’re going to be tired, mentally and physically, but your technique has to stay the same,” says Love, who has worked as a consultant with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns. “It has to become a habit.”

Joe Radocchia has been coaching minor basketball in Waterloo Region for about eight years. He had two sons participating in the clinic and says he hoped they would learn the discipline and repetition required to improve their game for the upcoming season and years to come.

“A camp like this really gives the kids the building blocks to become good basketball players,” he says.

What impresses Radocchia most about Love’s coaching method is his ability to keep the attention of the youth for long stretches while also giving them time to digest the new information. “He keeps it interesting enough that they’re engaged, but at a slow enough pace so they can absorb it.”

Love alternates between segments of instruction and shooting drills. He walks around the court giving the young athletes individual pointers, straightening a player’s feet here, adjusting another player’s elbow there. He doesn’t emphasize the importance of making the shots, but of using the proper technique.

When the kids adjust their techniques and begin missing shots, Love tells them it’s important to remember they will never be perfect, but that the desire to keep improving is what will separate them from the crowd.

“Even the best shooters in the world have bad habits,” he says, citing his work with NBA superstar Grant Hill. “If you’re not working on something, you’re not getting better.”

Charmaine Freake says she registered her son, Austin, for the clinic because there are 20 kids vying for only 12 spots on his team this year and he needs every edge he can get. “He’s really short for his age,” she says, “so he better be able to shoot.”

Austin, 11, who hopes to one day follow in the high tops of Steve Nash and play in the NBA, says he is committed to improving his game.

“My goal every game is to make every shot,” he says. “I definitely think this clinic will help me become a better shooter.”

The clock strikes five, and for the final time of the day, Love calls the kids to centre court; they are hustling just as hard as they were three hours ago.

“It’s easy to think of this as the end,” Love says. “But it’s only the beginning of a lifelong process.

“And remember,” he adds. “If you want to see the results, it’s important to enjoy that process.”

The kids break for the final time, but instead of rushing toward the exits, where their parents wait with arms crossed and car keys in hand, they pick up their basketballs and head straight back to the hoops. They have to practice, practice, practice, and there is no time like the present.